In a stacker crane that loads and unloads articles onto and from shelves in an automatic warehouse, a mast extends vertically from a traveling vehicle located at the bottom of the stacker crane. Thus, a platform is elevated and lowered along the mast. A transfer device is mounted on the platform to transfer articles.
In a known stacker crane, the traveling vehicle is provided with an elevating motor for elevating and lowering the platform and a running motor for causing the traveling vehicle to run. In this stacker crane, the elevating motor and the running motor are disposed below the mast and so that their longitudinal direction is orthogonal to a running direction. The elevating motor and the running motor project from the mast in a direction orthogonal to the running direction in a plan view. A dead space is formed below the lowermost shelf in the automatic warehouse: this space is required to elevate and lower the platform appropriately. A projecting portion of the stacker crane is arranged in this dead space so as to eliminate the need to increase the floor space of the entire automatic warehouse. However, a station for a processing device connected to the rear of the automatic warehouse may be arranged below the shelves in the automatic warehouse. In this case, the station is disposed in the dead space. This stacker crane has an increased width corresponding to the projection of the elevating motor and running motor from the mast. Accordingly, the size of a traveling path must be increased in proportion to the size of the projecting portion. This disadvantageously increases the floor space of the automatic warehouse. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a carrying apparatus that can prevent an increase in the width of the traveling vehicle even if the elevating motor and the running motor are disposed in the traveling vehicle.